


Hallowed Ground

by IShouldBeWriting



Category: Singularity North
Genre: British Military, Character Background, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Military, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:50:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShouldBeWriting/pseuds/IShouldBeWriting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Valkyries take care of their own.  And whether she knows it or not, they consider their field coordinator to be theirs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hallowed Ground

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my prompt fills for the SN songfic challenge. The song in question, Jude Cole’s _Hallowed Ground_ , was given to me by . 
> 
> Canonically this should fall around the same time as Annoyed, Selichot, and Do Nots.

_”Through the shadows, dark as shame  
I can still hear your voice falling down with the rain  
Washing memories from the trees  
'Till this road's covered over and lost in the leaves”_

Watching as their field coordinator stretched her stiffened limbs and limped back toward her car, Lily nodded at Davis and spoke quietly into her headset.

“She’s headed your way, Rachel,” she murmured quietly.

“Thanks, Lil.” Voice equally quiet in the cemetery's hush, Rachel shifted away from the tree where she’d been waiting to stand respectfully at parade rest beside Jez’ car.

Rachel noted the slight pause in the other woman’s steps as she came over the rise of the hill and saw that someone had been waiting for her. Aching in sympathy, she waited and worked to school her features as Jez drew closer. 

“We didn’t want to intrude, Jez. But we’ll not let anyone or anything else do so either. Mourning is a private thing and it will take as long as it takes, not a second more or less. Don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.”

Looking up quickly, Jez finally came out of her haze enough to noticed the too serious expression on the other woman’s face. 

“Sounds like personal experience speaking,” Jez commented, half curious but at the same time, still trapped within the constancy of the empty echo within her own heart.

Rachel’s answering smile offered an understanding that no one else aside from Will had been able to thus far. 

“Why don’t you let me buy you a cup of coffee and we’ll talk about it?”

Nodding fractionally, Jez stepped around to the driver’s side of the car and got inside. As she did so, Rachel spoke quietly once again.

“Davis, Lil? I’ve got her. You two head back. Let’s see if I can’t do a better job of this than Colonel Paul’s done thus far.”

Slipping the headset off, Rachel tucked it into her jacket pocket as she popped the door open and got in beside their field coordinator.

“Why don’t you pick somewhere quite?” She offered.

Nodding tightly, Jez carefully pulled the car away from the curb.

_”Careless children, fresh as sin  
I was your trouble and you were my friend  
Sweet as rain on hallowed ground  
And one endless summer that ended somehow.”_

_“I walked the long road 'till I found  
Each step took me further from where I was bound  
Bruised and broken in my soul  
And longing for something that we used to know.”_

The shop was tiny and, aside from a pair of very bored barristas, entirely deserted. Picking sunny spot near the shop’s window, Rachel asked what Jez wanted to drink before going up to place their orders. Returning with their drinks, she set Jez’ down and took a sip of her own before sliding into her seat. She waited patiently, gaze drifting idly across the people walking by on the high street. 

Ignoring the warm drink before her, Jez remained silent. Rachel let the silence grow until she’d finished her own drink. Setting the cup down on the table once again, she traced patterns on the table with her fingertip as hesitantly she began to tell her story.

“We were so very young when we met, but even then I knew. My parents hated it. We argued constantly about how Johani and I felt for each other, but they refused to believe their sixteen year old daughter could possibly know enough to want to marry someone. When we turned eighteen, we decided that it didn’t matter any more. We’d known each other since childhood. Loved each other more than reason. So we got married.”

Looking up from the tabletop finally, Rachel saw that she had Jess’s attention.

“We had five amazing years together. Johani worked on the game reservation with his father while I attended university. My parent barely spoke to us, and when they did, it was always trying to convince us to separate. When Johani was killed trying to stop a group of poachers, the first thing they said to me was ‘perhaps its for the best’. Being there, surrounded by all those memories of him, in the face of my parents’ disapproval, I couldn’t stand it. I ran. Took the next flight to the UK and signed up for RMP training.”

“Have you ever gone back?” Jez asked quietly.

“Regularly. A few months into training, I heard from my father-in-law. He still considered me his daughter, wanted to stay in touch. Said that he respected what I was doing and that Johani would have approved. I won’t claim that hearing that gave me purpose I didn’t already have or somehow hastened the healing process. But it did help, just a little, to know that someone else still remembered and thought Johani would have agreed with what I was doing.”

Jez nodded, her features slightly softer than they’d been earlier as she'd stood beside her brother's grave.

“Take your time grieving, Jez. And when you’re ready, find the one thing you can do for yourself or others that you know your brother would have wanted. Missing him won’t hurt any less because of it, but having a way to honor him in your daily life will help.”

“Thank you, Rachel. For the advice, for the story, for looking out for me. I know you, Davis, and Lily are only doing your duty, but -”

“But that’s where you’re wrong, Jez. Its not just duty, its an honour. Your brother served our country with valour and love. We’d be doing this for that reason alone; simply to honour a fellow soldier who has fallen. But because it’s you? Every single one of us considers this a privilege. Don’t shut us out, Jez. We’re here when you need us.”

Reaching across the table, Rachel laid her hand gently on the other woman’s shoulder as it shook with silent tears.

_”We were chasing the gray wind  
And wasting our days in the sun  
But stand and deliver  
And peace like a river will run.” ___

__”Heal the old wounds, lay me down  
Take me home to hallowed ground  
On the water, on the wind  
Where the dream is born again  
Oh, carry me home.”_ _


End file.
